BlackBerry 10 Launch Set For January, 2013

The next version of the BlackBerry OS, perhaps the RIM's last chance at retaining significance, will be released at a January 30 event. The products have already received FIPS 140-2 certification.

Research in Motion (RIM) has announced that on Jan. 30, simultaneously in multiple countries around the world, it will launch BlackBerry OS 10 and the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

The company did not provide any details of the two smartphones, but leaks in the past have described both full touch-screen models, and models with the physical keyboards for which BlackBerry is famous.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins called the user experience in the new system "the BlackBerry flow." Demonstrations of the OS have shown an experience more like modern mobile operating systems -- which is to say, more like Apple's iOS. The axis of the experience is the BlackBerry Hub, where notifications and open applications can be accessed.

BB10 has also received FIPS 140-2 certification, covering another historical strong point of BlackBerry: Security.

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